Burnout beckons for those starting businesses

By: Matt VandeBunte

The Grand Rapids – Business Section

July 20, 2008

After more than a decade as a project manager in the tree care industry, Tim Scherpenisse was suddenly out of work.

Two years later, he is an economic forecaster, strategic planner, marketing director and human resources supervisor.

Specifically, he is a small business owner. And the transition has not come without challenges.

“It’s an obstacle not to let the business run you. If you’re not careful, it can consume you,” said Scherpenisse, owner of New Life Arboricultural Services in Grand Rapids.

(Dianne Carroll BurdickTim Scherpenisse, owner of New Life Arboricultural Services, said running the business will consume you if you are not careful.)

 

Scherpenisse is among a growing number of Michigan workers forging their own path in a shifting economy that has suffered eight years of job losses and now has the nation’s highest unemployment rate at 8.5 percent.

The number of Michigan’s small businesses has increased to 850,000 during that time, up 14 percent since 2003, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Of course, the smallest remain the most fragile, with companies of nine employees or fewer accounting for 75 percent of the state’s business closings each year.

As a result, Michigan’s economy has become increasingly reliant on the business savvy of emerging entrepreneurs stressed by long hours and no guaranteed paycheck.

For an entrepreneur to develop comprehensive business skills, while staying sane, is no small trick.

Burnout is a major pitfall.

“As that (skill set) is being cultivated is when I begin to see burnout occur,” consultant Carol Crawford said.

“You’re not crazy, and you’re not lazy. Sometimes it’s just natural that it occurs.”

(Carol Crawford)

Crawford runs The Alternative Board, a Grand Rapids Township sounding board that fosters discussion on business growth among non competing CEOs and strives to nip burnout in the bud.

Symptoms include changes in personality and behavior. They are “not a lot different than classic depression,” she said.

The cause of burnout often stems from a pressing need for entrepreneurs to develop broader skills as their businesses grow.

“It can’t just be me sitting in my office making widgets anymore,” Crawford said. “Owners don’t realize that they have to change. They follow the definition of insanity — thinking they’ll do more of the same and get a different result.

“Some people say ‘I’ve been doing it this way for 23 years, and I’m going to do it 23 more.’ Nowadays, that just isn’t the case. You’re either moving forward or backward.”

That has been the case for Jim Warner, 45, a 16-year Auto die worker who lost his job in 2002. Along with co-workers, he launched Die Tech Services Inc.

A kind of virtual die shop (”we’re a die shop, just without the die shop,” he explains), the company contracts skilled labor to manufacturers across the country and foreign markets, including Mexico and China. And it has grown.

On the job training

Starting with a handful of workers five years ago, Die Tech now employs more than 20 people and had $3 million in sales last year. But over the years, Warner has been learning on the job.

Burning midnight oil

Signs of burnout in the boss:

• Personality change
• Emotional exhaustion
• Abrupt professional and personal interactions
• Cynical attitude
• Lack of energy
• Quick temper
• Coming into work late
• Not returning phone calls

SOURCES: American Psychological Association, Carol Crawford

Some lessons have been in frustration.

“When you get into business, it’s all exciting and fun,” he said. “But then as you start growing the business, we got to a point where we needed to work on the business, not in the business.

“It’s just the growing pains of it,” he continued. “The numbers start piling up and you have the responsibility of ‘Now I’ve got to find work for this number of guys.’

“Instead of just thinking about a couple of things, you’re thinking about everything.”

Looking back, Warner wonders if he and his partner considered too much at times. He points to research that went into building a die shop down south, a project that never happened.

Had the company stuck to its core business plan, the money and energy could have been spent on that, he said.

“Once you start heading off track, you’re going down a bad road,” Warner said. “You’ve got to have yourself focused on what it is you want to do, what’s the goal.

“I think I’m over that hump,” he said. “I see a clear vision of where we’re going.”

At The Alternative Board, Crawford points out, “We don’t prevent” burnout, but “we help identify it in the very early stages.”

Burnout “enters at different stages for different people. It generally continues to deteriorate,” she said.

“We’ve got to get back to your north star. Where do you want to go with the business?”

(Emily Zoladz  Deb Bates said she has experienced at least four episodes of burnout since starting Choice Business Services Inc.)

Deb Bates has asked herself that question during at least four episodes of burnout in the 15 years since starting Choice Business Services Inc.

Sept. 11, 2001, caused one episode and, more recently, the state’s sluggish economy and a slowdown in tenant leasing sparked another.

“I just felt tired all the time. I was like a walking zombie,” the 55-year-old Bates said.

“I just was lackluster. I just didn’t have the getup and go.”

She felt she was operating on automatic. “Shuffling papers, paying the bills. But nothing innovative was coming to mind. I would come to work and go through the motions and go home and stare at the TV,” she said.

But she said personal regression repeatedly has sparked business renewal for her four-employee firm, a provider of leased office space and support services. As the market and available technology have evolved, so has Choice Business Services.

Staying flexible and making little changes to suit customer needs are key, said Bates, who also participated in Alternative Board meetings.

“If you don’t change, your company will die,” she said. “Burnout, a lot of it is wallowing in the past things that have happened and not looking at the new things that are happening and reinventing yourself.

“Just like Madonna, she’s 50 years old, but she’s always been able to come back and that’s what you have to do.”

Finding help

Along with The Alternative Board, local entrepreneurs get business guidance from Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women or the Small Business Administration’s Service Corps of Retired Executives. Others find help from the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center, which offers one-on-one counseling.

Fueling the fire

Kindle the future of your business from the start.

Make a plan: “Find out what it is that you bring to the table that adds value. The business plan forces you to look at all aspects of the business so you can have a game plan.” — Dante Villarreal, regional director for the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center
Set priorities: “Maybe a question before you start a business is ‘What do you want out of the business and what are you willing to give up?’ Success has to be more than just profitability.” — Tim Scherpenisse, owner of New Life Arboricultural Service and Global Green Roofs
Find a mentor: “Every individual has a different situation. We can help you walk through the process.” — Villarreal
Hire a team and delegate: “If you think that you can do everything, you’re lying to yourself, and sometimes you have to fall before you find that out.” — Deb Bates, owner of Choice Business Services Inc.
Manage growth: “(Small business owners) hire people way too fast because they’re in a pinch and then they’re reluctant to get rid of them. They’re very much caretakers.” — Carol Crawford, owner of The Alternative Board
Change plans as needed and seek new opportunities: “Markets change. It’s looking at your market and anticipating changes.”
— Villarreal

Take time to get refreshed: “Often, if the CEO is asleep at the switch, he or she is going to miss something. If the owner isn’t engaged, things will start to deteriorate.” — Crawford

Dante Villarreal, regional director of the center in Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties, said seeking help often differentiates the most successful business owners from those who simply carve out a job for themselves.

Many new entrepreneurs coming for counseling have been downsized from their previous job, he said, and expert guidance can help them craft a business plan.

Business owners often need help in managing growing pains or capitalizing on new market opportunities.

“Bottom line, this (analysis) is what drives the direction of your company,” Villarreal said. “(Struggling entrepreneurs) spend day in, day out putting out fires and just reacting to what’s going on.

“They’re not being proactive.”

Scherpenisse, 32, has gotten guidance from a consortium of fellow green industry pros as he strives to balance time spent running his business with planning time.

In addition to his tree care and landscaping work, he has launched a division looking to serve a burgeoning green roof industry.

Among the lessons he has learned is to manage growth by hiring part-time staff and subcontractors in the peak season and staying lean in the offseason.

He’s also getting over the idea that if something has to be done right, he’s the only one who can do it.

Of course, there is still the constant battle for peace of mind in a tough economy.

“A challenge in these times is the disappointment of ‘We didn’t get that job’ or ‘We didn’t get awarded that contract,’” Scherpenisse said. “Mentally, that can really get you down.

But he has become philosophic. “It is what it is. A closed door today leaves room for a bigger door to open tomorrow.”

Scherpenisse said he needs that kind of optimism to stay on an even keel. After all, with diesel fuel nearing $5 per gallon, financial stress rides along to every job site.

But with some guidance, the psyche doesn’t have to burn along with the gas.

“You have to surround yourself with a diverse set of people in different types of businesses that are willing to mentor you. You have to listen to what they have been through and learn from their mistakes,” he said.

“It’s been a long time since someone told me ‘Dude, you don’t look very good.’”